


A Cat Cure for the Rat Plague

by ghostchibi



Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Post-Low Chaos Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, hydrophobia, more or less a "where the hell are my ladies" fix-it fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-03-17 16:11:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3535769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostchibi/pseuds/ghostchibi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens when the Void loses its deity?</p><p>Apparently, it just makes another one.</p><p>-----</p><p>In which the Outsider decides that he's had enough of this whole "Void deity" thing, and things get wildly out of hand from there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Based on some developer commentary about the Void and the Outsider, I thought of a scenario where the Outsider decides that he's done with being the Void's deity. Apparently, the Void always wants a deity, so in the absence of one it can just spawn one of its own volition.

What's this?

The Wanderer lifts her hands slowly, turning them over. Her fingers move, one at a time. The Void is around her. She is home. She is new, she is here, she exists.

The Void wanted a new god. The Void always gets what it wants.

She knows this as a fact. She also knows that she knows nothing; she is new, and she is just a baby. She is a goddess with no knowledge, no understanding, nothing she can say about anything at the moment. But she also knows everything that the Void does. She knows that she is not the first deity of the Void. She knows that there were many before her, and she knows that there was one before her. One who still exists. One who has fallen from godhood, but still walks.

The Outsider walks among the humans, now. But he still remembers his godhood, still remembers the whales and the leviathan he once was. She knows nothing of the humans, but certainly the Outsider must. Perhaps he will impart some of her knowledge upon her. But then again, she thinks, perhaps he will not. He jealously guards what is his. She knows this to be true, as the Void knows it to be true. She is proud to be a goddess, but she is not too proud. She is curious. She will learn. She knows what the Void knows, but that is not enough to be a goddess.

Her gold eyes turn to Dunwall, where the old leviathan now walks with human legs. Or... stumbles and collapses with human legs, if what she sees is any indication. But her attention is suddenly elsewhere, because while the old god is interesting (and someone she does need to speak to), someone else is very, very important. So important, that she sees futures unfold where no others can lead them. Strange, how strange, how curious.

The Wanderer hopes that her little scurrying humans will always be there to sate her curiosity. It would do no good at all if that stopped. Perhaps she should help that future unfold.

The Void sets a rune in her hands, carved from the skull of a cat. There is a symbol in the bone, gold leaf lining the grooves. The Void whispers to her, tells her of marked humans and Void deities and powers granted to the favored. Yes, this will do nicely. After all, Dunwall did just deal with a rat plague, did it not? And there is sickness elsewhere too, other places where rats chew through bone with teeth coated in plague. Then let the cats loose, let the cats chase down the rats, let them tear their bodies apart and let the disease ooze from their broken bodies like their blood, let them hunt until there are no more rats and no more sickness.

The Wanderer spins once, smiling. Her cats will feast! They will feast, they will not die from the plague, and the humans will rejoice. But first, before any of that can happen, she must meet the one whose possible future makes everything much brighter...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Outsider didn't really think of the consequences when he had acted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter heavily references a headcanon of mine about [how the Outsider merged with the Void.](http://ghostchibi.co.vu/post/112688951112/the-anger-in-his-heart-is-almost-enough-to-burn)

The Outsider grabs the edge of the metal catwalk and hauls himself up.

He's drenched in seawater, salt clinging to his face and stinging his eyes, and he isn't too sure of where he is right now. Dunwall, yes. In the Flooded District? No, there's no water in the roads. This is a functioning part of the city. Why there was a catwalk right above his head though, if that's the case, confuses him, until he looks around and catches sight of a whaling ship. So he was in the port. That explains the water, and the catwalks...

And the guards. They immediately startle at his appearance.

"Holy- what are you doing here?"

"I got out of the water."

That much should be clear to anyone with functioning eyes. The guards look to each other, then back at the Outsider.

"What the hell were you doing in the water?"

"I was thrown in."

It's not a lie. Yes, the Outsider had been thrown in the ocean once, but he failed to mention the part where the incident had happened a few millennia ago. Fitting, perhaps, that he would return to humanity by pulling himself out of the ocean, in much the same place he had been thrown in.

(he had been watching the whales he had been happy he had done nothing wrong)

"Thrown in? Sounds like a bad practical joke. You need a change of clothes, kid?"

The Outsider rankles at being called "kid." But he looks down at his hands, a faint memory stirring of those same hands desperately dragging through water. They don't seem so different from that time. Perhaps he is a child again. Perhaps he is his old self again.

He doesn't like that.

* * *

The Wanderer watches, and frowns.

"Is this not what you wanted?"

She doesn't understand. Was rebirth not what he wanted? Had it been something else he sought in removing himself from the Void?

To remove himself from existence itself? The thought is not pleasant, and the Wanderer shudders. Gods should not think of self-destruction. Gods should not want of any of the sort. And yet, the deity of new watches the deity of old storm through emotions long since forgotten.

Resentment.

Self-loathing.

Pure, unadulterated _anger_.

"You are angry of your survival, just as you were angry of your death," she whispers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This girl of gold shines like the sun; the people flock to her warmth, but she will burn any who get in her way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added a few more lines to this after posting, just to clear up what kind of state things are in.

Aurelia has never thought of being a gangster. Not that she doesn't see how the gangs of Dunwall are changing the city, how people like Slackjaw are pushing the limits that the nobles are comfortable with. But to be truly successful in that endeavor, a gang will not help. A gang can create fear. She doesn't want a gang, she wants a revolution. She doesn't want fear, she wants things to change.

Some of the gangs seem to be content to rally behind her though. She has no qualms against this.

She is the self-proclaimed leader of this revolution of sorts. The people of Dunwall suffer, have suffered, will suffer unless someone changes it. The knowledge that former Royal Spymaster and then Lord Regent Burrows had attempted to literally destroy the poor of Dunwall to rid the city of poverty had been a very, very rude awakening. The people began to whisper, the people began to plan. A few leaders popped up, publicly announcing their intentions, and all of them were cut down quickly. Aurelia is smart, though, and there are few Overseers or City Watch who know her name. So she plans in secret, speaks in hushed whispers to the sufferers of Dunwall, and waits.

Dunwall is crumbling. Even with the coronation of a new Empress, nothing will change. Little Emily will be brainwashed by the adults around her, and she will have no choice but to do as they say.

"Corvo would never stand for it," Devon tells her. "Neither would Daud. Or me."

Aurelia has known several Whalers for many years now, Devon one of them. To attempt to hide from the attention from the watchful eyes of the Knife of Dunwall is an exercise in futility, and Aurelia had quickly learned to simply be on their good side instead. Perhaps they knew her plans, but if she posed no visible risk to them they would leave her alone.

"You, Corvo, and Daud aren't the only people around her," Aurelia snaps, and the former Whaler doesn't reply. "I like you, Devon. I like the other Whalers. I can't really say I like Daud, but-"

"We're not Whalers anymore, remember?"

Much had changed in the past year. After the disastrous grab at power by first Burrows and then Havelock, imperial rule had finally been restored. But with a distinct power vacuum in the Abbey (still reeling from the treachery of two High Overseers, one after another) and the lack of a Spymaster, Emily's reign had not started off on a good note. And in the midst of this mess, somehow Daud of all people had been picked to help bring order.

As the _Royal Spymaster_.

Aurelia had nearly torn the public notice off of the wall in disbelief when she'd seen it.

"Whalers, Her Imperial Majesty's Guard, whatever official title you go by these days. You're all still the same people."

"Not everyone came with us."

"See, now you're being pedantic."

Devon shakes her head and just disappears, one of the "transversals" they use to move from place to place. Aurelia is familiar enough with it by now. One of the skills granted to them by Daud, a share of the Outsider's Mark on their hands just like their leader.

Except Devon doesn't just disappear like she should. She flickers out, little pieces like leaves in the wind swirling around, and then she's back again, looking rather perturbed.

"Ran out of energy?" Aurelia asks. This is strange.

"No. This is... this is wrong," Devon replies, and she sounds panicked. "That shouldn't happen. This should work."

She tries again, with the same effect. Dissolving, disappearing, then whole again, not having moved an inch.

"I- I need to talk to Daud."

"How do you even explain that? 'Hey leader, can you teach me how to do that teleporting thing again? I seem to have forgotten how to do it.'?"

"Shut up, this is serious. You don't just 'forget' how to do this kind of shit."

Devon gives up on trying to transverse, and instead climbs up the side of the alley wall and onto the rooftop. She looks around, flicks a hand at Aurelia in a hurried goodbye, and takes off across the rooftops.

"Must be hard remembering how to run again. Lazy assholes," Aurelia laughs.

_"They simply panic of the loss of a skill."_

Aurelia whirls around immediately at the voice. It comes from every direction though, no single point around her the source of the sound.

_"Calm yourself, sweetheart. You are in no danger."_

Again, no source of the voice. Aurelia is definitely not calm. She is not going to calm herself, and certainly not at the order of a disembodied voice.

"Whoever you are, you're much better off showing yourself."

Nobody comes forward. Aurelia takes a step, and as soon as her foot touches the pavement it no longer is the stone of Dunwall's streets. The space around her twists, as if being detached from the world somehow. And when she opens her eyes, she finds that she's not wrong, exactly.

Floating in the middle of emptiness, she recognizes the platform she stands on. The very same alleyway she had been standing in as Devon fled back to Daud. The same lamppost at the mouth of the alley, frozen mid-flicker. Off in the distance, there are other platforms. Some of them look to be parts of Dunwall's streets, some its rooftops, others simply flat bridges of stone and brick.

_"Come into the light, will you?"_

It's distinctively brighter at the entry of the alleyway, even though there's no source of light to explain it. Nevertheless Aurelia steps out, her hand still by the hilt of her machete.

Another platform rises up, and then another, and another. A circular staircase leading upward, to what appears to be another floating platform high above her.

"Is this what the Void is like?" she asks to nobody in particular. "I have to say, I really don't like it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone has something to say, but for once there's not an argument erupting. At least, for now there isn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 had some extra lines added to it it since it was posted, so I suggest re-reading it before reading this just to give you a better idea of what's going on.

Corvo is the first to notice something is wrong.

It comes suddenly, an inexplicable wave of... _loss_ washing over him. He blinks, looks down at his gloved left hand, attention no longer on the conversation (about imports, about Serkonos and whale products and the word _smuggling_ had come up more than once), laying his palm flat on the table. He looks over to Thomas, wondering if Daud's followers had felt it too. For a while, the blond doesn't react, and Corvo thinks that perhaps he hasn't noticed. Or perhaps he won't be able to notice, not being one of the Outsider's marked directly.

His first thought is proven right when he sees the sudden look of confusion on the former Whaler's face after a few minutes, and his near-identical reaction as Corvo's. The blond meets the Lord Protector's eyes, and he nods.

Something is very, very wrong.

* * *

Daud is the second to notice.

He yanks off his glove, inspecting the black rune, and although it hasn't faded Daud can feel a significant lack of power. His fingertips trace the pattern on his skin, and there's no reaction whatsoever. At first, he thinks that perhaps the Outsider has finally taken away the powers he'd given. It wouldn't be too far out of the question, now that Daud is no longer _interesting_ to him.

And yet, the mark itself is still there.

A glance at the clock. Corvo is still meeting with the envoy from Serkonos. Daud pulls off his coat from the back of his chair and sets off, making a beeline to the meeting room.

This cannot possibly be right.

* * *

 

Daud's followers are the third to notice.

Thomas feels it, meeting Corvo's eyes across the meeting table. Rulfio and Rinaldo fall out mid-transversal and barely manage to grab the edge of a rooftop to avoid splattering themselves onto the flagstones below. Devon runs into Geoff on her way back to Dunwall Tower, also on his way to report to Daud the sudden change.

None of them can use their powers. All of them are concerned, and in various states of panic.

* * *

 

"Corvo-"

"Daud, something's wrong."

The Spymaster shoots a look at Thomas, who immediately quiets.

"Here is not a good spot to be talking about it, but if I'm right then you probably already know what I'm going to say," he mutters to Corvo, trying to avoid the attention of the Serkonan envoy currently filing away behind them.

"I know. I think everyone who has it knows," Corvo responds, both hands clasped together. "Me, your men, anyone else that he might have marked."

Daud curses and shakes his head.

"I don't suppose we're all too _boring_ for him now? Lost his interest, so no more mark?"

"If losing interest had something to do with losing that-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Attano."

There's a stampede of footsteps coming up the stairwell, and a dozen or so of the Royal Guard run up, all of them in very visible panic.

"Daud, we've got a problem," Devon manages to gasp out as she catches her breath, prying off her mask to give herself more air. "I thought it was just me at first, but Rinaldo swears he nearly died trying to transverse and I know for a fact that tethering shouldn't cause things to fly at us at a million miles a minute even if it's someone as incompetent as Geoff doing it."

One of the Guard elbows her in the side, presumably Geoff. Corvo has yet to properly learn any of the former Whalers' names or faces.

"I'm aware," Daud says, to the shock of his followers. "This isn't just you all. It's happened to me, and Corvo too."

"The Outsider's a finicky bastard. What does he want now, human sacrifices?" the guard who elbowed Devon says, and this time Devon elbows him.

"Don't give him ideas!" she hisses. "If he's decided we don't get to be special anymore, we've got a lot of problems on our hands. We're useful to the Empress because we're special. Without that, we're no different from some City Watch oaf!"

"You have far more training than some City Watch oaf, Devon. Use what I've taught you, and you can make do until we find out what's going on. All of you, back to your posts. Do not make any indication that anything has changed."

The group nods at Daud's order, and a few of them attempt to transverse out of habit only to fail.

" _Just **walk** back to your posts!_ " he snarls in frustration, and they all immediately scatter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Wanderer marks her first chosen.

Aurelia doesn't let the woman with gold, shining eyes move around her unwatched. She steps in a circle out of habit of keeping her eyes on circling enemies, eyes still sharp and ready to defend herself even while floating in the Void. The woman continues to float around her, though, observing.

"I see great things in your futures. In ones that may come to be, and in ones that may not."

"So you're a prophet, then?"

"No. I simply see all that may happen, all of the possibilities of what may lie in the future."

"That's a prophet."

The woman almost looks offended.

"Prophets claim that only one true future exists, one that cannot be changed," she continues. "There is no such thing as a fixed future, sweetheart."

Aurelia rankles a bit at the term of endearment. The woman, this... Void entity, continues to use them regardless of how many times Aurelia has told her not to.

"So what do you want from me, then? Are you taking over my body? Using me as a vessel or some sort?" she asks, and when the Void entity throws her head back and laughs it's as if the whole Void around them laughs with her.

"A vessel! I have no need for such, not when I can see everything from where I am. I simply wish to continue seeing, to watch humanity survive. I would think that the best way to ensure that would be to... urge specific futures into occurring, would you not agree?"

"I don't deal in messing with the futures of other people, so no, I don't agree. Nor do I understand."

"Oh, but no matter. I don't require your approval, or your understanding."

The woman extends her hand, and tips her head. She waits.

Aurelia is suddenly filled with the urge to reach out.

"It is your decision, darling."

Aurelia knows that she is important. She knows that she will change the future, somehow, in a way that is so interesting that it catches the attention of the Void itself. This... woman, this entity, wants to help. As long as the change that Aurelia creates pushes humanity along for longer, this entity will help.

Her hand is in the Void goddess's, palm facing up.

The woman with the gold eyes smiles.

"Ah, my sweetheart, you are going to be so _special_."

* * *

 

When she's spit out of the Void (really, there's no other way to quite describe the sensation), Aurelia finds herself flat on her ass in the alley where Devon had left her. Back in her normal place, back where she belongs, and it would be rather nice if she didn't end up in the Void again.

She notices her wrist glowing.

There's definitely a glow coming from under her jacket sleeve. Aurelia yanks back the sleeve, and inspects her left wrist. The mark left there by the Void goddess is now glowing, bright yellow light streaming out like sunlight peeking in through cracks in a ceiling. The mark itself is odd, symmetrical and rather reminiscent of some sort of animal skull, with two large circles connected by curves and lines. There's no pain, despite the glow or the mark itself, and Aurelia wonders if she's going to have to put up with a luminescent wrist for the rest of her life.

The light dies down eventually, the mark settling into her skin as it fades out into scar-like white tissue. It still stands out in stark contrast to her skin though, somehow, her eyes drawn toward the mark.

The Wanderer had said that the mark granted her powers. That she would gain more if she spread the Wanderer's power, much like the Outsider's runes and charms.

"There is no more Outsider, my darling," the Wanderer had said. "But I have nothing, and he still has everything. I need that everything."

Runes carved into whalebone and charms made of skeletal remains were what decorated the Outsider's shrines. The runes that hummed with energy, the charms that granted strength or finesse or simple, dumb luck.

Aurelia could probably get her hands on an already-deceased cat somehow.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Abbey starts to become a concern, and the new deity looks for the old deity for advice.

The Abbey often speaks about the Outsider and magic. The Overseers do their best to strike fear into the hearts of Dunwall's citizens about the entity that roamed the Void, and of those who were loyal to him. Sermons about witches, dark magic, and the evils of such are often made, and there was more than one occasion where claims of heresy and witchcraft in Dunwall Tower were made.

Unfortunately for the Abbey, the citizens of Dunwall are too busy being enamored with their Empress to care.

"They still accuse us in private, you know," Corvo says, falling into stride with Daud. "They're smart enough not to bother saying it out loud any more."

"And what will they do? It's not as if they could send Overseers to Dunwall Tower and scour the place for witches," Daud snorts. 

"One of these days, they just might."

The Overseers have become a constant irritation now. While they would never outright accuse Emily of harboring followers of the Outsider, they still find ways to harass Corvo, Daud, and the Royal Guard. It started with small things, such as a few more Overseers than usual patrolling right outside of the tower. As time passed, they began to carry more of their magic-canceling music boxes. Corvo could swear that the music boxes had been tuned to become stronger, sometimes causing headaches or sudden bouts of nausea beyond the usual severing of his powers.

"Attacking the Empress in such a way would do them no good. The citizens of Dunwall would be outraged, and if they were to anger Empress Emily far enough they would risk forcible dissolution."

"I have to wonder if at this point forcible dissolution would even be possible."

Daud simply hums in response. It's his way of saying that he can't argue.

* * *

 

About a week after the sudden loss of his powers, Corvo manages to blink successfully. Daud is able to access his powers as well, and in the following days so are the Royal Guards. It trickles back slowly for them, but it's not too long before they all have control again.

The Outsider is silent to his marked. Daud has given up entirely on getting the god's attention, and he doesn't care enough to try. Corvo tries, somewhat, but the Outsider has been noticeably absent for the past year and that doesn't change for Corvo either.

Corvo finds himself feeling _concerned_.

* * *

 

When the Wanderer visits Aurelia again, she's in the middle of planning. It's the most daring plan she's come up with, but considering her usual tactics of striking from the shadows, this may as well be like walking up to the High Overseer and putting a bullet in his head.

The world around her shimmers and bends, and while Aurelia is still sitting at her desk with her plans laid out in front of her, the Void spreads out around her beyond the few planks of wood under her feet.

"Have my powers made you more bold, my darling?" the Wanderer asks, peering over Aurelia's shoulder.

"No. This is something I've had in my head for a while."

There's no point in trying to continue to work. Aurelia doubts that anything she does to the Void's version of her little workspace would carry over back in the real world either.

"I have a request of you, sweetheart," the Void deity says, tapping her cheek with a finger. "It is simple, and short, and will do you no harm."

"See, you say these sort of things and then I have to wonder exactly what you're asking of me."

"I will be clear. I need a body to approach the Outsider in your world. I wish to speak to him."

"You said you didn't need my body."

"That was not what I said. I said that I was not going to take over your body. This is all at your consent, my darling."

The Wanderer uses that endearment a lot. Aurelia frowns, but she can't argue.

"How long do you plan on walking around as me?"

"Only for as long as I will need to speak to the Outsider."

"Uh-huh. And you're sure that he still exists?"

The Void goddess smiles with a mouth with too many too sharp teeth.

"Of course. I would not ask this of you otherwise."

The Wanderer is true to her word; as soon as Aurelia speaks her allowance, she finds herself deposited back in the world right in front of a rather bewildered young man with darkness for eyes. Her mouth opens, but it isn't at her command.

"Hello, Outsider," she says, but it's the Wanderer's voice that leaves her. "Do you have a moment?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Outsider teaches, the Wanderer learns, and the light repays its debt to the darkness.

"Everything you could ever want to know about Dunwall, about Gristol, about the whole world, you already know. I still don't understand why you've come to me."

The Wanderer smiles and tilts her head to one side, watching the Outsider as he speaks. He knows that this body that the new Void deity is presenting herself as is not truly hers; the body is real, truly existing in the physical realm like his is now. At first he thinks that maybe she has taken over the body of a corpse, but the body is healthy and clean. The clothes are crisp and fairly well cared for. If not a corpse, then the only other option is a living human. But who would allow an unfamiliar entity to take over their body? Perhaps the Wanderer already has followers, despite being less than a week old.

Dunwall is a truly desperate place, the Outsider thinks.

"But is knowing the same as understanding?" she asks. "I know everything you do, because the Void has spoken to me just the way it spoke to you. But you understand more than I do. I have the knowledge; I wish to understand what I have been told."

The Outsider eyes the Wanderer. His face is unreadable, but there's a feel of distrust and unease that the Wanderer can feel. He doesn't trust her, but any smart person would never fully trust a Void deity they had just met.

"I am asking for you help, Outsider. I am indebting myself to you. In exchange, I am willing to grant you a request. Anything within my power, I shall do for you; you should know what I am and am not able to do, as it would be the same as your limitations as a deity, no?"

He stares at her, and she stares back; black into gold, darkness into light.

"...very well."

He hopes he's not making a decision he's going to regret.

* * *

 

The Wanderer learns from the Outsider. He teaches her of the humans, because despite all that the Void can teach her, human nature is something she still doesn't fully understand. Sometimes she learns quickly, catches onto the idea of revenge, or desire, or love. Other times she lags and fails to comprehend entirely, ideas like blind faith or hate. The Outsider sighs and repeats himself many many times, hoping that perhaps she'll understand.

It takes some time, but eventually she understands these concepts too.

* * *

 

The Outsider is suspicious of the lack of attention he's attracting.

Although a cure for the rat plague was spread and many people were saved, the actual eradication of the rats that carried the plague has yet to occur. Even now, rats scurry across the ground and through pipes and vents, carrying the deadly disease and infecting people. The City Watch still regularly checks buildings for plague victims and quarantines them until they could be treated, and the Outsider initially expected to be discovered fairly quickly.

But nobody ever came knocking, and nobody still comes to inspect the abandoned apartment where the Outsider stays for now. The only person to come is the Wanderer, inhabiting the body of her willing host. Today is much the same, and he watches as she climbs through the open grate and plops herself onto the floor like a child.

"You have been keeping the City Watch away," he says. It's not a question, it's a statement.

"I have. Are you upset by that?"

"Why are you keeping them away? Another favor for me, for you to collect on later?"

This time, the Wanderer does look a bit offended. And possibly somewhat hurt.

"I thought that you would prefer not to be chased around."

"No other motive, then?"

"No. Would you prefer then that the City Watch come knocking on your door every day? Because they have been planning to check this building for a month now, but there are always... other things that come up that are more important than checking an empty building that probably does not even house any people inside anymore."

The Wanderer frowns.

"They do not need to have other, more important issues keeping them away from here. They are busy men, after all."

And as if on cue, the voices of a few Watch guards come through the boarded window. It's just banter to pass the time as they patrol the area, but the point is made clear to the Outsider.

"I find it difficult to believe you're doing this as a gift."

"I am not the same as you, Outsider. I do give gifts with no expectation of anything in return."

She grins. She inhabits a human body, and yet her grin is unsettling, supernatural in a way. The Outsider looks away and scowls.

"I wish to use the favor you granted me, then. The one you gave in exchange for my... lessons."

The Wanderer claps like an excited child and jumps to her feet a bit too quickly. Her host's body lurches, clearly unaccustomed to the sudden movement.

"Yes! Anything I can do, I will do for you. Within reason, of course, I could burn the Isles into ash but that would not be an appropriate favor."

He can't help but smile at the inclusion of her caveat; she's learned a great deal about human nature from him.

"I wish to use my favor," the Outsider says. "To speak to my marked in Dunwall Tower."

 


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heretics and gusty plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOOPS IT'S BEEN FOREVER SINCE AN UPDATE sorry about that, here's the next chapter!

Aurelia takes one more look over her plans, ignoring the Wanderer reading over her shoulder.

"Do you expect me to come to your aid?" the deity asks.

"Do you want to lose your very first marked so soon?"

"You take advantage of your position, darling. Is that wise?"

She gathers the papers and stands, striding past the Wanderer without even looking at her. The written plans are immediately tossed into the fire on the stove, flames flaring up at the fresh kindling. Keeping them around only invites their discovery. Aurelia doesn't need any Overseers catching her at her gamble.

"Depends on how much you like me, I guess," she finally answers. "Am I disposable, or is there any sentimental value in a Void deity's first marked?"

"Void deities are not _sentimental_ ," the Wanderer hisses, and her eyes narrow in distaste. But there's a tone in that voice that betrays something, and Aurelia is willing to bet that she's right on that account.

"Isn't that why the Outsider wants to see his own marked? He's being sentimental? He wants to see familiar faces, right?"

"The Outsider is no longer a Void deity. I thought you knew that much."

"Fallen deities count too."

Continuing to not look at the Wanderer, Aurelia turns away from the fire on the stove to recheck her pack one last time. Every item is laid out carefully onto the desk, repacked, taken out again and laid out, and then in one sweep of her arm pushed aside.

"I changed my mind."

The ink on the papers is wasted, she thinks. So is the paper, and her time. But what she had planned will work no better than what she's decided to do, and her new idea will be much harder for the Abbey to ignore.

Aurelia detests public executions. They're nothing more than a scare tactic, a means to keep the masses in line. Know your place, or you will be next. Stay in line, or you will be removed. Stuck-out nails getting hammered, or something like that. She doesn't remember where she heard the saying, but she does remember that it's not from Gristol.

Anyway.

She picks up a pistol, barely enough bullets to get through a fight with the City Watch, her machete, and a handmade catbone charm made from a shoulder blade and a few claws. It's not perfect, not by a long shot, but it's the best she's made so far and even with her suspicion of the Wanderer she disdains the idea of offering anything less than her best for the deity. Perfection isn't necessary, just the closest she can get to it.

"You don't need to interfere. But I know you'll be watching anyway. Have fun, I guess."

"Is this rebellion? A way to show me that you don't need me?"

Aurelia checks the sharpness of her blade, still not looking at the Wanderer. "If you want to look at it that way, be my guest."

The Wanderer crosses her arms, forgetting that Void deities are not sentimental.

* * *

"...for high crimes against the Empire of the Isles and the Abbey of the Everyman..."

Corvo watches with grim distaste, while Daud is making every effort to look everywhere except for the scene unfolding before them.

"...attempted assassination, treason, bribery..."

Emily sits ramrod-stiff, her eyes staring straight forward, and Corvo wonders if anyone actually believes that this will do her any good at all.

"...Teague Martin, you shall be put to death by hanging."

Martin doesn't look at all perturbed by what is happening. He regards the Overseer reading his death sentence with as much indifference that one might treat a passerby, and he only acknowledges the guard wrapping the rope around his neck by tilting his head to let the noose fit better.

"I wish this wasn't happening," Emily says quietly, and Corvo sees her reach for Daud's hand as well as his own.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Daud replies. After all, he had been the one responsible for trying to prevent this. But despite all of his efforts, the Abbey and the Overseers would not relent, and Daud had failed.

"It isn't your fault," Emily reassures him, but Corvo can tell that Daud only feels the weight of another death on his shoulders.

The noose tightens, a hand reaches for the lever controlling the latch, and then an explosion goes off.

"What the hell?!"

There's screaming and confused shouting, and Corvo instinctively reaches for Emily. But nobody approaches, nothing comes toward them, and nothing happens. That is, until Corvo looks to the gallows, and sees something that utterly baffles him.

"What the _fuck_ ," Daud says from behind him.

There's a young woman standing next to Martin, who looks just as bewildered as the City Watch and Overseers on the gallows stand. She's brandishing what appears to be a machete in one hand and a pistol aimed at the nearest Overseer in the other.

"-useless and cowardly in the end, all of your power taken from the masses you walk all over-"

She slashes at the rope hanging above Martin's head, and she shoves the pistol into the former High Overseer's hands without looking. She keeps yelling at the Overseers, ignoring the crowd of people who watch with rapt interest at this strange development.

"All of you deserve to be hanged more than this man!" she shrieks at them, and her machete seems to perfectly reflect the light of the sun no matter how much she gestures with it. "All of you, who sit in the Abbey and terrorize the poor of this city, of the whole of the Isles! Damnation and darkness, tell the downtrodden to hand their souls over to the Abbey and let it milk them of all they're worth, then toss the empty corpses away! You would eat the corpses too, if you could!"

An Overseer closes in on her, and in one fluid motion she swipes at him with her machete while he's still several feet away from her. The machete glows white-gold for a moment, before a flash of light in the shape of the blade flies away from it, knocking the Overseer off his feet and filling the air with howls of pain and the smell of burning flesh.

There are several cries of "witch!" and "Outsider's magic!" that are met with laughter from the intruder. Martin, who has now shaken himself out of his disbelief, demands answers from her while she knocks over another Overseer. There's too much noise to hear their exchange from where Corvo is standing, but it seems that Martin is just as unwilling to go with her as the Overseers are to let Martin go.

"If you want to do something right for once, _listen to me_ ," she hisses.

Martin hesitates. He holds out his hand.

Reality almost seems to shift, as if Corvo's vision is tearing at the point where the intruder and Martin are standing, and then suddenly they're gone, leaving behind confused City Watch and a few hysterical Overseers.


End file.
